The present invention relates to information processing and particularly to creating dynamic interactive reports.
Relational database systems are well-known in the prior art, and include tabular structures and structured query languages used for database queries. To aid in an understanding of the present invention, a glossary of terms is included hereinbelow. Relational database technology has made possible an independence between the way data is physically stored and the way it can be handled logically. Relational technology has been widely accepted in business, industry and engineering as valuable for storing data.
Database systems may also be implemented in technology termed OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing). A key feature of OLAP is a multidimensional view of data. These databases expose data not as entities and associations, as does a Relational Database System, but as sets of values organized in a so-called hypercube. This hypercube structure allows for easy access to data along different dimensions. For instance, a multidimensional database can organize numeric data along three dimensions: Product, Geography, Measures. The product dimension reflects the hierarchy of products in the organization, for example, Consumer and Enterprise products being further divided into more precise product categories down to the final product SKU. The Geography dimension will reflect the corporate organization from the entire company to countries to sales district or ZIP codes. Last, the Measures dimension captures more or less detailed sources of income and expenses, such as sales revenue, maintenance revenue (that may be grouped in a common xe2x80x9crevenuexe2x80x9d category), or operational expenses. These three dimensions define a system of coordinates. For each valid set of coordinates in this system such as, for example, xe2x80x9cAll Products,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cUS,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cRevenue,xe2x80x9d the multidimensional database is able to retrieve a single value (numeric in most cases) that represents the aggregated value of the specified measure for the specified dimension coordinates.
Another feature of OLAP is various analysis models such as parameterized static reporting, slicing and dicing with drill down, xe2x80x9cwhat ifxe2x80x9d analysis and goal seeking models. These analysis models are provided by standard OLAP tools. These tools serve analytical purposes such as allowing users to select which coordinates in which dimension they want to consider, and must often prompt the user interaction with data through a user interface component called a xe2x80x9cgrid.xe2x80x9d A grid allows for easy navigation in a multimensional cube and enables xe2x80x9cdrill-downxe2x80x9d (descending the hierarchy in a dimension and getting a more detailed view of the data).
From a user perspective, a most important feature of database management software is the user interface and reporting capability. Reports generally present results in user friendly formats, such as graphs, tables, crosstabs, or forms. A novel technique for providing a semantic layer for interpreting and interacting with a relational database is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,403 entitled xe2x80x9cRelational Database Access System Using Semantically Dynamic Objects,xe2x80x9d which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
OLAP products generally provide powerful analytical and navigation tools such as drill down/up, rotation, and slicing and dicing data to provide different views of the data. However, the reporting capabilities of these products are not well developed.
Glossary
The following is a glossary of some of the terms used in these technologies.
Data: Raw facts or values which are physically recorded and which can be extracted and objectively verified
Information: Anything learned from data, the xe2x80x9cmeaningxe2x80x9d of the data.
Value: An amount of worth
Database: A computerized collection of data
Relational Database: A database in which all data are stored and organized in tables and in which each field containing a datum is equally accessible.
Relational Database Management System (RDBMS): The software environment supporting a Relational database.
Relational Database Terms
Record: A collection of fields; the basic accessible element of a file.
Field: An elemental entity of a record.
Relation: An orderly arrangement of data in columns and rows; a table.
Attribute: A column of a relation, a field of a Tuple.
Tuple: A record of a relational database; one line or row of a table or relation.
Relational Structure: Set of Relations definitions
Business Objects Specific Terms
Infocenter: Environment in which the Users, without any technical knowledge, have xe2x80x9cself-servicexe2x80x9d access to the information system, in a manner controlled by MIS staff.
Universe: An easy-to-understand partial or total representation of the database, designed for a particular application or group of users.
Business Objects: Objects corresponding to concepts close to the user""s everyday business. They are defined by the Infocenter Manager and are the basic elements of a Universe.
Context: set of logical equations linking tables joins) providing a closed graph of table.
OLAP Terms
Metadata: Data about data. How the structure and calculation rules are stored, plus, optionally, additional information on data sources, definitions, transformations, quality, date of last update, user privilege information, etc.
Hypercube: An OLAP product that has all data stored in a single cube that has all dimensions applied to it.
Dimension: A structural attribute of a cube which is a list of members, all of which are a similar type in the user""s perception of the data. A dimension acts an index for identifying values in a multi-dimensional array.
Cell: A single data point that arises by selecting one member from each dimension of a multi-dimensional array.
Minicube. A subset of the hypercube with fewer dimensions than the encompassing hypercube.
Multi-Dimensional Array: A group of cells arranged by the dimensions of the data.
Drill Up/Down: Drilling up or down is a specific analytical technique whereby the user navigates among levels of data ranging from the most summarized (up) to the most detailed (down).
Slice: A subset of a multi-dimensional array corresponding to a single value of one or more dimensions not in the subset.
Slice and Dice: A method of navigating by calling for page displays interactively through the specification of slices via rotations and drill down/up.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method for performing analytical reporting on top of a multidimensional data model enables a dimension object to be associated with a reporting block, such as a table, crosstab, or chart. The reporting block inherits the data definition of the associated dimension object.
According to another aspect of the invention, each reporting replicates the same set of reporting data for each element of the associated dimension object.
According to another aspect of the invention, dimension objects can be nested so that the reporting object inherits the data definition of both dimension objects.
According to another aspect of the invention, the reporting object is synchronized to the dimension object to display reporting data for each member of the dimension.
According to another aspect of the dimension, OLAP-style analysis is enabled through direct interaction with a report format.
According to another aspect of the invention, the GUI enables associated dimension objects to be filtered by selected member data so that report data is only replicated for selected members.
Other features and advantages of the invention will now be apparent in view of the following detailed description and appended drawings.